USAC launched a new E-Rate Form 471 Download Tool last Thursday. The new tool, providing detailed access to Form 471 data for FY 2016 forward, is available through USAC’s E-Rate Open Data website directly or through the E-Rate Tools page. Within the Tools section of USAC’s E-rate website, the new tool is currently the first of the two Form 471 tools.
The older Form 471 tool, which will be retired later this week, provided less data and had to be downloaded by state then searched or sorted for specific applications. The new tool, with a powerful filtering system, provides direct access to the following types of Form 471 data:
- Basic Form 471 data
- Consultant information
- Discount calculations
- FRN status
- FRN line items
- Recipients of service
- Connectivity data
Each dataset can be filtered, downloaded, or viewed using the icons in the upper right-hand corner of each data window as shown in the following example:

The functional explanation of the three icons is as follows:

To learn how to use the tool in some common use-cases, watch USAC’s tool walkthrough video. In addition, if you are new to USAC’s Open Data platform, USAC has beginner-level videos that introduce and explain how to get started using the Open Data platform.